IPG Mediabrands, a major ad buyer, said it has reached an agreement to use Nielsen data and technology to help better identify, target and measure audiences likely to buy its clients’ products.
The deal comes at a time when networks are urging advertisers and media agencies to shift away from buying commercials based on the traditional demographic ratings supplied by Nielsen and to make decisions instead based on data that tracks consumer behavior.
With more people watching programming on demand and over-the-top Nielsen has augmented its linear rating with a Total Audience Measurement approach that tries to capture all viewing sources. Nielsen has also beefed up its information on consumer behavior and says its information is being used for audience buying.
Under the new agreement Nielsen data is being integrated into IPG Mediabrands’ Audience Management Platform.
“We are very excited to help IPG Mediabrands provide its clients with powerful buyer-based segmentation, creating an end-to-end marketing solution for their brand clients,” said Damian Garbaccio, executive VP at Nielsen. “This speaks to our ability to customize our unique data assets and software to meet the exact business needs of our agency and brand clients. IPG Mediabrands is now that much closer to truly effective decision making and multiplying the benefits of improved cross-platform audience selection.”
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As viewing has fragmented ad buyers such as Mediabrands have been moving ad dollars from linear TV to online video services like YouTube and over the top platforms like Roku.
There have been complaints that the audience delivery data provided by digital platforms has not been accurate, pushing those companies to enable third-party measurement companies like Nielsen.
As TV networks move towards making more of their inventory data driven and addressable, having Nielsen as the scorekeeper used by media agencies could provide a level playing field.
IPG Mediabrands recently signed a new five-year global agreement to get Nielsen’s local and national TV, audience Scarborough, Digital Content Ratings, SVOD Content Ratings and cross-platform planning licensing.
“Nielsen is an invaluable strategic partner for us as we continue to build upon our data and technology infrastructure,” said Arun Kumar, Global Chief Data & Marketing Technology Officer, IPG Mediabrands. “This will enhance our targeting capabilities and provide us with the planning tools we need to ensure that our agencies can reach addressable audiences at scale.”
The integration in the new agreement will match millions of IPG Mediabrands’ consumer identity graphs, housed within its Audience Management Platform (AMP), with Nielsen’s extensive TV viewing and purchase behavior insights, the companies said. This includes purchase-based audience data from a robust set of anonymized frequent shopper cards in the U.S. from Nielsen Catalina Solutions, as well as NBI's detailed transaction data from over 80% of all U.S. credit cards in the U.S.
One of IPG Mediabrands’ media agency units, UM, already uses Nielsen data and technology as part of its Business Analytics Engine. Another IPG Mediabrands agency, Initiative, uses Nielsen for its Accelerator planning tools.
The expanded relationship also give IPG Mediabrands access to Nielsen Marketing Cloud and Nielsen Media Impact tools, which enable media planners to estimate the impact of their plans on audience reach, sales and brand equity before committing investment.
